


and the wind screams, "mary"

by intheendinwonderland



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Angst, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorder, Bigotry & Prejudice, Bittersweet Ending, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Everybody Dies, F/F, F/M, Fanon, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Growing Up, Hogwarts, Loneliness, Loss, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Mary-Centric, Not A Fix-It, POV Mary Macdonald, Period Typical Bigotry, Pre-Canon, Queer Themes, References to Depression, Rejection, Title From A Jimi Hendrix Song, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-20
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-22 23:55:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30046755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intheendinwonderland/pseuds/intheendinwonderland
Summary: Mary Macdonald’s story through the years.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Mary Macdonald/Marlene McKinnon, Mary Macdonald/Original Female Character(s), Remus Lupin/Mary Macdonald, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Kudos: 1





	and the wind screams, "mary"

**Author's Note:**

> Every chapter will be showed through a snapshot of each month of the school year. 
> 
> (I don’t support JKR)

_September 1st, 1971_

Mary Macdonald hesitantly stepped onto the Hogwarts Express, the train that would be taking her to Hogwarts. Mary had lived all eleven years of her life being a quiet little girl who refused to look people in the eyes. As one would describe it, she was perfectly average. Boring. 

It was quite a shock when Mary learned how magic exists, and that she was going to a fancy boarding school across the country. She was a witch. A thing truly out of fairy tale books. And out of all people, it was her. 

Mary walked through the train ally, looking for a section to sit in, suddenly regretting her choice to leave home. She entered a compartment that had two other girls in it who seemed to also be first years. 

One of the girls was very pale and wore a bright magenta over her blonde curls. The other had big eyes and her dark skin like Mary’s was swirled in blue cloth. 

The blonde girl beamed at her. “Hello, I’m Emmeline Vance, and I’m a first year.” 

The girl in blue waved at her with an awkward smile. “Dorcas. I’m a first year too.” “Er well . . . I’m Mary. Mary Macdonald. This is also my first year here at Hogwarts, and I guess I’m sort of nervous?” Mary’s voice sounded way too tentative for her liking.

“Are you a Muggleborn? I’ve never had a friend who knows what it’s like to live with Muggles,” Dorcas replied, suddenly excited.

“Yes, I grew up normal - I mean with Muggle parents,” Mary answered, stuttering over her words. “I am honestly still confused on how Hogwarts works.” 

“You know about the houses right? A magic hat sorts you in one when we arrive,” Emmeline responded, “I’m going to be a Ravenclaw, I’m sure of it.” 

“One of our professors came to my house and explained Hogwarts to me. Gryffindor is for the brave, Ravenclaw is for the intelligent, Hufflepuff is for the loyal, and Slytherin is for the cunning.” Mary answered.

“What house do you think you’ll be in?” Dorcas asked. 

Mary’s stomach turned. She was never that smart, or cunning. She never felt like she had someone to be loyal too. And she definitely never was brave. _What if she doesn’t get placed in a house?_

“What happens if you don’t get placed in a house?” 

Emmeline and Dorcas looked at each other, worried. “That won’t happen. Don’t worry about it.” 

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

*

Mary wrung her hands tight as one of the professors, Mcgonagall, called out names to be sorted by the Sorting Hat. Nothing really stood out to her except for when one boy early at the list got sorted into Gryffindor, almost nobody clapped. Some of the Slytherins even booed. Mary hoped that nobody would boo for her. 

“Macdonald, Mary!” Mary almost jumped as she heard a shrill voice call out her name. With her hands shaking, she slowly walked onto the platform, trying to ignore the hundreds of faces staring at her. 

_Let me belong to a place. I’m tired of not fitting in. Please just let me go to where I belong,_ Mary thought to herself as the hat was dropped on her head. 

_You want to belong, eh?_ Mary heard a tiny voice in the back of her head. _I didn’t know you could talk_ , Mary sent back. 

Mary heard what she presumes to be the Sorting Hat’s attempt at a chuckle. 

“GRYFFINDOR!” 

The Gryffindor table clapped as she walked toward the table covered in red and gold. She looked around, awestruck. So she was with the brave. Mary hoped that the hat made the right choice. 

“Mckinnon, Marlene!”

Mary felt a hand tap her shoulder and she whipped her head around, expecting confrontation. Instead she was faced with a small girl with freckles on her neck and flowing red hair. 

“I’m Lily Evans. I’m a Gryffindor, too.” 

“Hello. My name is Mary.” Mary said back, trying her best to be polite. 

“I know, I heard! It’s so exciting, isn’t it? I’m a Muggleborn, and I didn’t even know this was possible until a few months ago! It’s like I’m in a dream,” Lily went on, her eyes drifting upward into thoughts Mary could not hear. 

“I’m a Muggleborn too,” Mary admitted shyly. 

“GRYFFINDOR!” the Sorting Hat shouted, disrupting them from their conversation. 

“Marlene is with us! I met her on the train, Mary, she’s very nice.” 

Lily waved her hand over, beckoning Marlene to come sit next to them. She was very tall, and had short, fluffy hair. She looked like a painting, one that Mary could admire for days on end. 

“Meadowes, Dorcas!” Mcgonagall shouts out Dorcas’ name and Mary shoots her what she hopes is a hopeful smile that she’ll join them. 

“Marlene, this is Mary, and she’s also in Gryffindor. Do you think we’ll all be dormmates?” Lily shouted out, excitedly.

“HUFFLEPUFF!” 

Mary sighs, and waves to Dorcas as she walked away. It seems like she was stuck with Marlene and Lily, whether she liked if or not. 

*

_October 23rd, 1971_

It had been almost two months since Hogwarts started and Mary was enjoying it much more than she thought she would. Despite their slightly awkward first impressions, Mary immediately got along well with Lily and Marlene. 

Lily was very sweet and caring, and she always payed extra attention to everyone. She made Mary feel special. Marlene was fierce and kind, and Mary marveled at her passion and wit. 

Lily was right, they were places together as dormmates together. Hogwarts was a very small school, with only around a thousand students at a time. There were only fifteen first year Gryffindor girls, and nineteen Gryffindor boys in their year as well. Mary quickly became aware of them all.

There was Sarah Williams and Tammy Kama who were inseparable, and Mary couldn’t think of a time when she seen the two apart. There was the Perrot triplets who were always fighting. Lisa Johnson, Rachel Liu, and Michelle Dixor who Mary could sometimes hear through their dorm walls. Sandra Landsey and Barbara Richards came to Hogwarts all the way from Ireland. There were also two other girls who always got on Mary’s nerves, and she refused to memorize their names. 

The boys were harder to remember because Mary interacted with them less. Just like most eleven year olds, the first years at Hogwarts tended to avoid the opposite sex for the majority of the time. 

The only boys Mary could remember were the group of troublemakers. James Potter, a loud boy with uneven glasses, and Sirius Black, the boy who got booed by the Slytherins on the first day, always seemed to cause the most mischief. Another strange boy with scratches on his face, Remus Lupin, pretended he was above their little activities, but Mary knew better. His innocent stare wouldn’t fool her. The fourth boy was Peter Pettigrew, and he was hard to get a read at, but Mary disliked him the most, even though he was probably the least threatening of the four.

The other houses were even worse. Mary knew Dorcas and Emmeline already from the train. Some of the other Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were nice to her, but that was it really. 

But for some reason the Slytherins outright _despised_ her. Some of them would shoot her dirty looks in the halls, and Mary often saw sneers whenever she practiced spells. 

* 

Mary and Lily walked out to their charms class, arms full of books. 

“I’m really excited for the weekend because I’m going to try to practice fancy spells we haven’t even learned yet. It could be dangerous, but it’ll be so fun -“ Suddenly Lily’s voice was cut out by a large push as she fell to the ground. Mary saw another boy aim at her, and she punched him in the face. It didn’t do any damage at all, but the pair ran away, snickering. 

“Why would they do that?” Mary asked Lily softly, lending her a hand to help her up. Mary didn’t even know their names. She surely couldn’t have offended some third year Slytherins who she’d never interacted with. 

Lily’s face burnt red. “In the wizarding world, some people think that if you’re a pure-blood, you are superior to the other wizards. Most wizards think they are better than the Muggles.” 

Mary’s stomach dropped. She was bullied for the majority because of her race, and she finally escaped. She thought the majority of wizards were above racism, even though her time at Hogwarts hadn’t been perfect. It just hurt her so bad that in whichever world she belonged too, she would always be seen as inferior.

_November 3rd, 1971_

Mary was excited because it was Sirius Black’s birthday, and he was throwing a small party. A few first year Gryffindors had birthdays already, but then weren’t as flashy as Sirius. Mary had never been to a true party before. She hadn’t gone to a birthday party that wasn’t a member of her family in _ages_. She just wasn’t special enough to be invited. 

“I’m not going,” Marlene grumbled as she threw herself onto her bed. 

“Why?” Mary frowned. “It’ll be so fun.” 

“No, it’ll be stupid. It’s a twelve year old’s birthday, nothing fun will happen. I don’t want to listen to stupid boys talk for hours on end. All of the boys in this school are arrogant pricks, but Sirius and his gang think they are so cool for their immature pranks that aren’t even impressive.”

“In case you forgot, you’re eleven. You have no room to talk, Marlene.” 

“I’m wise beyond my years,” she muttered under your breath. 

Lily, who was spying in on their conversation from across the dorm, burst out laughing. Mary tried to hold back, but she too was cackling with delight.

“I can’t believe you really said that,” Lily managed out in between gasps. 

Marlene’s cheeks turned bright red. “Stuff it.” 

“Oh Lily, did you hear that the girl who claims she’s wise beyond her years was the same girl who woke us up in the middle of the night crying because the toilet broke and she didn’t know how to fix it?” 

“Alright, alright, we get it, Mary,” grumbled Marlene, putting extra emphasis on Mary’s name as if it were an insult. 

“I see how how it is. Do you want to fight me, Mckinnon?” 

Marlene giggled and jumped on top of Mary, and the lightly wrestled on her bed. Mary shrieked with laughter as the tumbled onto the ground, Marlene’s hair comb sticking right into her stomach. 

Lily turned at them, a tiny smirk on her face. “So are we going to the party or not?”

* 

A few hours later, the girls made their way into an empty room in Hogwarts that Mary didn’t even know existed. It seemed to be an old meeting room for the professors, but it obviously was abandoned over past few years. There were streamers hanging from the ceiling and a sign wrote “HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIRIUS” in messy handwriting. 

“Welcome to the party, ladies,” greeted a boy with brown skin and hair sticking in all directions. 

“James,” Lily nodded her head curtly, a tight smile on her face. 

“What’s wrong?” Mary whispered. 

“Nothing, I just didn’t know James was going to be here. He’s so irritating, I can barely stand to be in the same room as him and his stupid smirk.” 

“How did you not know? Aren’t they best friends?” Mary huffed out, annoyed. 

“I told you we shouldn’t have come,” Marlene groaned behind them.

Mary rolled her eyes. “We only have to stay for a few minutes. We have to be nice!”

“Well I think being nice is overrated,” Lily said sagely. 

“I agree,” Marlene let out, nodding her head way too enthusiastically. 

A loud bang went out as a few fireworks went out inside the room. All of the first year Gryffindor boys were there, and they cheered. A few Ravenclaws rolled their eyes, but they couldn’t contain their smiles. 

“Fine. I don’t fancy getting detention so early in the year anyway.” 

Mary grabbed Lily and Marlene hand’s and turned around to the small door in the corner. 

James ran over, flustered. Mary could tell he was the one who set the fireworks out. “You guys can’t go, you haven’t even given Sirius his presents yet!”

Lily put her hands on her hips. “We didn’t _get_ Sirius presents.” 

“Why not?” 

“You didn’t say we had to!” 

Remus, the boy who Mary use to see around, came over. “Just let them go, we’ll have more fun by ourselves anyways.” 

James frowned. “Alright.” 

He whispered something inaudible into James’ ear and he gave a smug smile and turned around. Mary was suddenly grateful that they were leaving before they could hear the chaos go down.

Remus gave them small smirk and headed back over to Sirius. 

_December 31st, 2021_

It was New Years Eve, and Mary was spending it back home with her family. Her siblings insisted on knowing every single detail about Hogwarts, from her clothes to the meals. Her youngest sister even begged her to do a spell, even though it was against the wizarding laws for someone under seventeen to practice magic outside of a school. 

“You excited for the new year, Marmalade?” asked Mary’s father wistfully, his hand resting on Mary’s shoulder. Mary shrugged his hand off, frowning at the slightly embarrassing nickname from her childhood. 

“I thought I said I didn’t want to be called that anymore.” 

“Alright sweet Marmalade, I’ll listen to you just this time. But don’t forget you’ll always be me and your mother’s baby girl, no matter what happens.” 

Mary nodded, slightly confused on why her father was suddenly spouting slightly sappy dedications. 

Her father sighed. “It’ll be 1972 in a few minutes, darling. I hate to admit but I’m a bit scared about you growing up and leaving your poor family behind. I know every father feels overprotective of his child, but I rarely ever get to see you. For the majority of the year, you’re off doing what should be impossible. One day you’ll be an adult with a powerful job and I’m afraid you’ll see no use for us anymore.” 

Mary’s eyes watered against her will. “I won’t ever do that Papa, I swear.”

He smiled through teary eyes, reply with a small, “Alright darling.”  


The record player played slow music, filling the room with bittersweetness. The song switched and Mary recognized the unmistakable guitar riffs of Jimi Hendrix. One thing Mary probably missed the most about the Muggle world was their music. The music made by wizards was phenomenal, but to Mary Muggle music was just so comforting, reminding her of home. 

“Marmalade, this one’s named after you!” Mary’s mother shouted as she entered the living room to join them. 

“Ah, _the wind cries Mary_ ,” her father sighed wistfully. 

“The wind can’t help but be called to beautiful Marmalade, just like everyone else in the world,” smiled her mother. Mary gave her a small smile, her happy mood partially diminished with her mother’s blind optimism that just wasn’t true. 

“Didn’t you hear, Judy? Mary refuses to be called Marmalade anymore,” her father teased. 

Mary’s face turned red. “Well, I guess it’s alright if you use it every now and then.” 

Her parents laughed and hugged as they swayed to the music. 

“Only sometimes!” 

_And the wind screams Mary_ , her mother sang along. 

Mary checked the clock above their heads. It was already past midnight. She smiled to herself and thought, _This year is off to a great start._

_January 16th, 1972_

Mary had been attending Hogwarts for five months before she learned about Severus Snape. He was a somber boy with long, greasy hair and an angry glare. He was the leader of a group of Slytherins who Mary felt extremely terrified of. He was also Lily’s best friend. 

His little sidekick, Mulciber, had found extreme pleasure in taunting Mary. He’d corner her behind hallways, spouting derogatory words and spells he surely wasn’t allowed to use. Mary had tried to complain to Dumbledore, but Mcgonagall claimed he was busy. It seemed to be that Dumbledore was always “busy” whenever there was an issue about. 

It was a Sunday when she found out. Most Sundays Mary would finish her homework and do nothing all day. 

Gripping Marlene’s hand, Mary headed back to her dorm. She had come to fear being alone in the hallways now that she was the most targeted across the year. 

The two girls turned around a corner that they hadn’t ever seen before. It was so easy to get lost at Hogwarts, with the moving walls and spiraling staircases leading to dead ends. 

Marlene sighed. “We’re definitely going the wrong way.” 

They turned around right to see Lily talking and laughing with Snape as they worked together on an essay. 

“Lily?” Mary said questioningly, dropping Marlene’s hand to step forward. 

Lily’s head shot straight up. Immediately a guilty look was placed on her face as Snape glared menacingly behind her. 

“Please excuse me,” Lily whispered to Snape as she grabbed her stuff and headed over. 

“Lily, what were you doing?” Mary tried to keep her rising panic clear out of her voice. 

“Me and Sev were just doing homework together,” Lily said, her voice wavering. 

“S-Sev? You call him that? And you’re doing homework together like you’re the best of friends?” 

“We were neighbors before school started,” Lily said tightly. 

“And you didn’t think to mention that anytime earlier? What about all those times his mates harassed me, harassed us?” Mary called out as tears began to form in her eyes. 

“He isn’t like that, alright!” 

“No Lily, he is. He’s exactly like that. Him and his whole little group. I am honestly so shocked right now,” 

“Please don’t be upset with me,” Lily pleaded, “He needs me, okay?” 

“Why does he need you? Why?”

Lily stepped forward, her voice lowering to become almost inaudible. “His parents aren’t really nice to him alright? He _needs_ me to be happy? I- I don’t think it hurts that much to be nice for him for a little while. He really is so good once you get to know him.” 

“I thought you said being nice was overrated,” Marlene replied, her voice cold as ice. 

Lily refused to take her eyes off the ground. 

Mary shook her head disappointedly. “Come on Marlene, we let’s go.” 

*

“Do you hate me?” Lily asked as she slowly entered their dorm. Mary had been lying on her bed for around half an hour after she left. 

Mary shook her head softly. “Could never hate you, Lils,” she whispered. 

Lily headed over to her bed. “Can I sit here?” she asked, pointing to Mary’s bed. Mary nodded as she fiddled with her thumbs.

“So Marlene already knew, eh?” 

Lily winced. “It’s not like it was ever a secret.” She played with her hair. 

“Can I just explain myself a bit?” she asked softly. Mary nodded again. 

“I’ve been close with Sev ever since I was nine. I don’t want to make it seem like he’s obsessed with me and I never cared for him, because that just isn’t true. We had a lot of fun together, you know? My parents . . . well they aren’t exactly the best parents on the planet. Sometimes they make me feel bad about myself, especially because they favor my sister Petunia so much. Me and Severus would run away for a few hours, and have _fun_. He isn’t perfect, and I definitely know that, but our friendship is very complicated. I hope you can see why’d it be hard for me to just abandon him just because he got placed with the wrong bunch.” 

Mary looked down, refusing to look Lily in the eyes. “I hope you understand why it’s hard for me that you two are mates, two.” 

Lily nodded her head up and down. “Yes, yes, I do. I like Sev quite a lot, but I like you even more. It’ll be hard for me, but if you don’t want us to he friends anymore, I guess I’ll won’t be anymore.” 

“You really don’t have to do that, Lily.” 

Lily nodded her head repeatedly again. “I’ll tell him to stop hanging around with those Slytherins, or else he’ll have to buzz off. He gets upset when they’re mean to me, but he doesn’t really care about what they do to others. But I’ll make him care, I swear it.” 

“Lily, you’re on of my best mates. In the end, I just want you to be happy. If it’s _him_ who makes you happy, so be it.” 

Lily smiled and flung herself onto Mary. “Thank you so much Mary, I’ll never make if up to you. I love you so much.” 

“Your hair is in my mouth.” 

“Does it taste good?” 

“No.” 

They burst into laughter, their bodies convulsing with fits of glee. Across the room, Marlene shrieked, “What kind of question is that?” and they cackled harder. 

_February 8th, 1972_

Lily's birthday came and left with a flurry of gifts and sparkles and laughter. Lily's face flushed red the whole entire time. Marlene and Mary went and bullied James into not putting any pranks on her celebration. Mary still disliked Snape, but she grudgingly accepted him to be acquaintances. 

Mary loved making her friend happy, and a few weeks later, it was her birthday. She was turning _twelve_. Twelve was always her lucky number, because it's nice and even and makes Mary happy. Mary secretly hopes for a huge party. She's never had the opportunity to have on, or one where people would actually come. 

When Mary went to breakfast, everybody was acting completely normal. Not one person wished her a happy birthday. Lily and Marlene were talking about how strict Mcgonagall is, and how they have gotten so little time to write it. To her right, Remus was drawing something in his notebook that Mary couldn't understand. Sirius and James were whispering, and Peter was trying to contain his smile. The boys were probably planning another evil plan of theirs. Great. Just what she wanted on her birthday. 

Mary pushed her food around on her plate, her stomach feeling upset. It was just so stupid to be that upset over something insignificant. Mary just thought she found a place where she belonged, and her friends just pushed her to the side. They probably don't care about her as much as she cares about them. At that moment, she wanted to go back home. Her mother would always make her a chocolate cake with strawberry frosting, and her siblings would dance and scream and shriek with delight. 

At her charms class, Mary made sure to sit next to Dorcas, because this was her only class with Hufflepuffs in the day. Dorcas was chattering with a few of her friends, who Mary recognized but didn't really know. Dorcas smiled at her as she sat down, but then just continued to go back to her extreme conversation. 

They rest of the day was extremely brutal for Mary. She really had set her expectations too high. Mary really thought that Hogwarts would be this amazing paradise where she was the most loved person in the year and absolutely no one could find any reason to hate her. She really was way too hopefully optimist. 

At her last class of the day, Mary had Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Ravenclaws. This was actually one of Mary's favorite classes. She had learned so many things, and even used a spell or two against someone who was trying to attack her. 

At the end of class, Emmeline pulled Mary aside to the end of the hallway. 

"What?" Mary snapped. She felt bad of course, but she wasn't really having the best day of her life. 

Emmeline gave her a strange look. "I was just going to ask if you could help me with my homework."

"You? Ask me? Aren't you supposed to be a Ravenclaw or something? I'm not even the smartest Gryffindor." Mary had to contain herself from rolling her eyes. 

"Well, you're very good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, and I'm convinced I'm going to fail. I really need your help Mary, I swear it!"

This time Mary did actually roll her eyes. "Well fine, I suppose. Where are we going?"

"To the Ravenclaw common room. It's hidden, so you have to cover your eyes on the way there so you can't find the location." 

Mary sighed, and then pulled her tie around her neck over her eyes. She could've sworn there was nothing about the Ravenclaw common room being hidden and that other students weren't allowed to see the way, but the day's events had shown that maybe Mary wasn't that attentive. She couldn't have if she expected all her friends to be so appreciative of her.

Mary felt Emmeline's hand guide her through turns and passageways, even up and down stairs. _Where the hell are we going?_ , Mary thought to herself bewildered, _poor Ravenclaws _.__

__Mary heard the creak of a door open, and Emmeline's tilting voice filled her ears from the back of her head with a, "You can open your eyes now, Mary."_ _

__Mary grunted and ripped off her tie off of her eyes. She was shocked with a bunch of kids and a huge "SURPRISE". She shaded her eyes as she tried to adjust to the bright light as she tried to figure out what was happening. Someone's arms circled around her, and Mary heard Lily's voice say, "Happy birthday, M!"_ _

__Marlene was beaming, and Lisa Johnson and Rachel Liu blew noise makers that filled the rooms with loud screeches. Dorcas waved awkwardly as she smiled next to Marlene._ _

__"Oi Macdonald, you better than us because Remus figured out a spell to make sure no teacher's will come and send us all to detention!" Sirius screeched as he shoveled food into his mouth._ _

__"I actually do need help with Defence Against the Dark Arts, but that can wait for tomorrow," Emmeline whispered into Mary's ear._ _

__"I'm so sorry we didn't say anything earlier, I was trying to keep this all a surprise," Lily said, not letting go of Mary._ _

__"I thought you forgot," Mary whispered as she squeezed Lily's hand._ _

__"Never, M."_ _

_March 12th, 1972_

There was a huge quidditch game going on that day and the whole school was going to be there. Quidditch was still such a strange sport to Mary, but she was thrilled to go anyways. Mary had never been one for sports, but everybody in Hogwarts was going to show up to this huge Gryffindor vs Slytherin game. Mary wanted to see Slytherin loose, _badly_. 

Mary pulled out her red sweatshirt with the Gryffindor lion on the front and decided to go with soft yellow pants and big red boots. Mary had always had a passion for fashion, so that outfit did make her cringe, but it didn’t bother her too much. It was nice to have fun and get excited and scream for a few hours at some kids flying in the sky.

“Where is my scarf?” Marlene shrieked, upheaving every neatly sorted pile of clothes and books in their dorm. Mary winced. She was going to have to restack them all again, because messy rooms had always gotten on her nerves. 

“It’s too warm to wear a scarf, Marls, let’s just go.” Lily said just as she fixed her own bright red and gold scarf. 

“You- You’re wearing one right now! Hypocrite!” 

Lily turned around, a playful smile on her face. “What did you just say to me, Marlene Anne Mckinnon.” 

“Oooh,” Mary said as if she were narrating a wrestling match, “Evans pulls out the full name!”

“I said she’s a hypocrite! She says it’s too warm to wear a scarf as she wears a sca-“ Lily didn’t let Marlene finish her sentence as she jumped on top of her. 

“Lily’s a hypocrite! Lily’s a hypocrite! Lily’s a hypocrite!” Marlene chanted as Lily attempted to smother her words with her hand. Mary laughed and ran over to join them when suddenly the door slammed open. 

Peter Pettigrew was standing in the doorway. 

Lily quickly jumped off of Marlene. “You aren’t supposed to be here.” 

Peter sighed. “Sirius said to tell everyone in Gryffindor to wear a lot of house pride to the quidditch match because he’s going to put a spell on the Slytherins’ outfits to make them look bad because his cousin is playing.”

“Well, Sirius can go fu-“ Mary clamped her hand on Marlene’s mouth. “Don’t finish that sentence,” she giggled. 

Lily straightened her shirt out. “Well tell Sirius we don’t want to participate in his immature games. I _was_ going to wear this nice Gryffindor scarf, but I don’t feel like it anymore.” 

Mary and Marlene burst out laughing. 

“What’s so funny?” Peter asked confusedly. 

“N-nothing,” Mary sputtered out. 

“So are you going to-?” 

“No.” Lily gave Peter her death stare, which Mary thought was quite impressive. 

“But-.” 

“Peter, leave. Or else I’ll tell Mcgonagall you were trespassing into the girls’ dorms.” 

Peter sighed and shuffled out. He grumbled something Mary couldn’t hear, and slammed the door. 

Marlene grabbed Lily’s face and pulled her scarf down. 

“Hypocrite.”

_April 8th, 1972_

The sky thundered and crackled. Mary was trying to focus on Herbology class, but the pouring rain and lightning flashes made it hard to focus. 

Mary glanced over to Marlene. She flinched whenever there was a loud clap of thunder, and she had tears welled up in her eyes. Mary knew that extremely loud noises bothered Marlene, so that the storm above probably was very hard for her. It didn’t help that this class they were stuck with the Slytherins. 

“Class, class, we need to stop!” Professor Sprout shouted over the noises from outside the greenhouse. 

“Everybody, listen up right now! Normally us professors can subdue the storms outside, but this one was most likely influenced by some sort of spell. Do not, I repeat do not, leave the greenhouse until I allow you to. It’s extremely dangerous out there and we want absolutely nobody getting hurt!” 

The students looked around each other in fear. If the storm was influenced by magic, who did it? Was it by accident or on purpose, and if it was on purpose, what was their goal? How dangerous would it truly be for them to just try and make a run to the castle? 

Professor Sprout clapped her hands again. “Every single person, sit down right where you are! Do not move a muscle! There are extremely dangerous plants in this greenhouse and I don’t want one of you getting hurt and me not being there to fix it. Nod if you understand.”

Everybody nodded again, their fear increasing. 

“Alright then! Lily please be in charge of the Gryffindors for me, and ah . . . Severus! Take care of the Slytherins! Everybody, stay safe! I’ll be back as soon as I can.” 

And with that, Professor Sprout dashed out of the room, wand yielded and bag grabbed. 

Every student was silent. No one moved an inch. Marlene sniffed across the table, and Mary wanted to comfort her, but she didn’t dare to move at all.

Suddenly, James stood up and inch. 

“Oi Potter!” Lily shouted, “What do you think you’re doing?” 

“Just going to sit next to Remus and Sirius,” James said innocently. 

“Absolute not.” 

“But I don’t want to be stuck next to Snivellus,” he whined. 

“Don’t call him that! Merlin’s beard, it won’t hurt you to sit next to him for a few hours and just not talk to each other!” 

“Come on James,” Peter shouted, “I’m stuck in between all the Slytherin girls and I’m not complaining!” 

Snape scowled. “Control your housemates or I will,” he growled to Lily. 

Mary heard Sirius shout, “What are you going to do about it Snivellus” just as a bolt of lighting hit the ceiling. The greenhouse had spells on it to protect it, but it got everyone shook. 

People started standing up and shouting, and some people were on the brink of panic attacks. 

“EVERYBODY SIT DOWN!” Marlene yelled out. Nobody stopped their cries, but they all sat down at their designated spots. Marlene glanced over to Mary, and she could see her silently begging for help. 

“Imagine how embarrassing it would be to die because you weren’t able to stay still and keep your mouths closed for a few minutes,” Mary said out as loudly as she could. Everybody went extremely silent. The only sounds were the violent wind and threatening thunder claps. 

Sprout rescued them and let them out of the greenhouse around an hour later. The storm hadn’t stopped at all, but it was back to the level a normal storm caused by the weather should be. 

The next day, Dumbledore had a assembly and spoke on about how that day was a one time thing and that it would never happen again. He promised that everyone would always be safe at Hogwarts. Mary loved Dumbledore, but even she could tell that that was a very empty promise. Hogwarts was amazing, but it wasn’t the most safest school on the earth. 

All of the teachers refused the students’ questions on what caused the storm. Lily just sighed and said, “At least we’ll have a story to tell our kids.”

_May 17th, 1972_

“My exams are finally done! Yes!” Marlene shouted as she ran into the room and promptly threw her quill and dropped all her books. 

“I am very sure that I failed the Transfiguration quiz,” Mary groaned, slamming a book into her head. 

“I don’t even get why they are giving us exams this year when they won’t even mean anything in the long run,” Lily frowned. 

“‘Cause school is stupid and likes making students work way harder than they should,” Mary mused. 

“That’s what I’ve been saying the whole time, Macdonald! You all truly need to listen to me more, I am very intelligent.” 

“Oi Marlene, just because I hate exams like every other normal person on this planet does mean you’re some all-knowing genius.” 

“Mm, what ever you say _Mary_.” 

Mary rolled her eyes. “Now help me clean up the mess you made in the loo.” 

“I didn’t make it, Lily’s the one-” 

“Do you ever wonder what’s changing?” Lily wondered aloud, cutting out Marlene. 

“What do you mean, what _is_ changing?” Marlene questioned. 

“I haven’t a clue actually,” Lily went on. “Don’t you notice how things at Hogwarts feel different then they were described?” 

“My parents were very surprised when they learned about all the restrictions we have like curfews and extra security,” Marlene added on. “They didn’t have that when they went to Hogwarts. The Whomping Willow was only added the summer before this year.” 

“So, what is different now then it was around two decades ago?” Mary asked, her hands starting shake like they always did when she was stressed. She had absolutely no idea what it was of course, but she had a bad feeling. 

Lily frowned. “That’s the thing, I don’t know.”

“So we’ll find out,” Mary ventured. “Next year we’ll make it our mission to know.” 

Marlene shrugged. “Sounds good to me.” 

“And whatever it is, we’ll be coming for it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just started spring break, so I’m hoping to write a lot! Thank you to everybody reading <3


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